WHAT TO CONSIDER FOR YOUR KITCHEN RENOVATION

While a significant expense for most homeowners, renovating your kitchen is also an investment that can last you for years to come and may even increase the overall value of your home. Therefore, there are a few tips you’ll want to keep in mind before you embark on your renovation journey —as well as a number of common mistakes you’ll want to try and avoid. Doing so will help make your time, effort, and money well worth it.

Start by taking some time to consider your family’s needs and your lifestyle, as nowadays kitchens are becoming much more of a living space, even if the room is quite small. This will help ensure everyone can get the most out of the space. Ask yourself how often you cook, what appliances you would like to dedicate extra time (and money) investing in, and how much storage you consider essential.

Perhaps the kitchen is the main space for socialising and entertaining within your home, and if you have a young family it may even double as an after-school homework zone. In this case, you may want to pay extra attention to your seating choices and counter space, or maybe dedicate certain areas to serve more than one purpose. One activity should not prevent the others from working well by being too cumbersome.

Make sure to consult a kitchen design expert before starting your project. A professional will be able to help fine-tune your plan, offer tips and advice, or help you start from scratch to figure out exactly how to translate your ideas into a functional new kitchen.

Think about your current kitchen and what you would love to change; if a lack of storage has been a problem for you, look at places where storage can be expanded and maximized. Consider installing multiple PowerPoint outlets along with the splashback and on the island bench so you’ll have electricity wherever you need it.

Don’t skip over the seemingly small add-ons and storage features, like additional drawer dividers, or cabinet expansions like pantry pull-outs and corner units. These details will not only increase your kitchen’s storage efficiency but will also save you money as they can end up being much more costly to add on down the road.

Think practically when you are deciding what will go where and make sure it makes sense. For example, if you are installing a dishwasher, make sure it is close to the sink and not on the other side of the kitchen. However, the last thing you want to do when renovating a kitchen is to make it look smaller – this is where the designer’s expert input can become invaluable and saves you from making costly errors in your plan. Having a well spread out, open plan design can help open up the rest of the house and make it feel more spacious.

Putting time and thought into mapping out a budget it key as renovating often incurs unexpected costs from little issues here and there. But, the main reason for these expensive surprise costs is because a well-thought-out budget has not been defined before starting renovating. It’s also almost impossible for any major design work to be started without knowing what your budget is!

The key influencers of cost in a kitchen project are the size of the space, the materials used, and paying for the time of tradespeople and professional service suppliers.

Thinking about if you’ll use the kitchen’s existing footprint or add to it; whether you’ll do any work yourself, and what products and features you want to include (such as, are you going to purchase new appliances?), will help you gauge an estimated cost.

If you’re just getting started on your kitchen renovation in Perth, The Maker’s showroom in Bassendean is a great place to start your journey! Pop in for a casual discussion with one of our award-winning kitchen designers, or alternatively, book an appointment for a design consultation.

The Maker is Western Australia’s most awarded kitchen design and manufacturer focused on providing quality customer service and innovative designs. We can ensure that your Perth kitchen renovation meets your budget with quality products that will last years, and ensure that the process runs as seamlessly as possible for you. If you’d like further information, give us a call today on 1300 270 000.